Inkjet printing is predominantly a direct marking process, whereby individual droplets of ink are directly deposited onto the final substrate. Its inherent simplicity is only obtained by the careful selection, design, and integration of the three critical components of inkjet printing:
- The inkjet head technology and associated hardware
- The ink/fluid material
- The substrate material, or media
The primary technical classification of inkjet technologies segments into Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) versus Drop on Demand (DOD) Inkjet. The vast majority of all inkjet products on the market utilize Drop on Demand (DOD) technology. DOD inkjet systems further segment into the following technology classifications:
- Thermal Inkjet (TIJ), as predominantly practiced by Hewlett Packard, Canon, Lexmark, Silverbrook, and others
- Piezo Inkjet (PIJ), as predominantly practiced by Epson, Dimatix, Xaar, Trident, Toshiba, Ricoh, Samsung and others
XACTIV has a well-equipped lab for the formulation of water or solvent based inks for ink jet delivery, including phase change inks. Solvated materials, such as dye or pigment-based materials, can be accommodated with our high speed, high shear, specialized mixing and dispersing equipment and production processes.
We can formulate application-specific fluids optimized for most ink jetting device types and our engineers have significant experience with Drop on Demand (DOD) piezoelectric and thermal technologies as well as continuous (CIJ) jetting devices. That successful experience encompasses a wide range of applications including marking (ink on paper or other media), medical device coatings, edible food-grade inks, conductive inks, 3D cohesive inks, and others.
Standard ink performance measurement and physical characterization tools for fluid viscosity, surface tension, pH and particle size distribution are available in a confidential setting. We are also fully outfitted to perform fluid jetting performance characterizations under controlled application-specific conditions.
XACTIV is the leading independent technical authority in digital printing technologies and has significant experience and expertise in the product development and integration of inkjet printing system products and sub-systems. We have often been called upon to extend Inkjet Printing to other industries and applications requiring controlled, precision material deposition of liquids. Our unique experience in inkjet printing systems has positioned us as the leader in developing such unique fluid deposition applications and materials.